A YEAR after freak weather conditions wrecked more than 20 homes in Sutton, one couple are still homeless.

Residents were left devastated on August 10 last year when the River Aire rose more than 1.7 metres and a surge of water flooded the Shieling's Estate, off Holme Lane.

A year on and David and Margaret Johnson, who were flooded out of their home on The Hawthorns, are still in rented accommodation.

Builders are still working on their property, which has cost £50,000 to rebuild.

They are hoping to be back home in October.

Mrs Johnson said: "We are just fed up. We started out staying with relatives, but it just went on and we moved to a house in the village.

"If anyone had told me we would still not be back in our home a year later I don't think I could have coped. We thought it would be a few months - we thought we would be back in for Christmas.

"It could have been very tragic, but fortunately no-one was injured," she added.

"I was sat when the water started coming in and thought I better save something, but I didn't know what.

"Everything happened so quickly - the flooding took three or four minutes. I just picked up a photo of my boys and went upstairs. There was 18 inches of water downstairs. We managed to save one or two small pieces, but most things were destroyed.

"It has been very difficult, but we have had wonderful support from the community, our friends and family. We have been lucky."

Residents on The Hawthorns decided to mark the first anniversary of the floods with a "flood survival party", held on August 14.

Organisers included Margaret Reed, Julie Tosney and Rachael Greene, who put up bunting in the street.

Mrs Reed said: "The flooding brought everyone together and afterwards you spoke to people you might not have spoken to before. I thought it would be good to do something to get people together and we invited everyone on The Hawthorns to the party.

"I was at work when the flooding happened and by the time I got home it had receded.

"But the house was filthy, the tiles in the kitchen and the carpets downstairs had to be replaced. It took about seven weeks to get straight, but I was one of the lucky ones."

South Craven councillor Ken Hart, who lives on Meadow Lea, was also affected by the flooding.

He said: "Most people are back in their homes now. A lady, who is 100 next week, is not returning to her home and our next-door-neighbour has moved out because she didn't feel safe.

"Most people have sorted out their insurances. Mine has just gone up by £4 which I can live with. I am pleased the Environment Agency has adopted the site, but I do hope it is doing its job.

"Residents showed the Sutton spirit of just getting on with it."

Environment Agency flood incident management technical specialist, Frazer Rhodes, said there was a four per cent chance annually of this flooding happening again.

He said figures had been worked out from a post-flooding survey at Holme Beck.

The Beck was adopted by the Agency, up to Glusburn Bridge, in November last year and has been identified as a critical ordinary water course. It will be included in the Agency's long-term plans for such courses.

He added that anything obstructing the flow of the beck had been removed, including trees.

Mr Rhodes also said the Agency had worked closely with residents, finding out about the history of the beck.

Flood warning and automated dialling services have also been introduced by the Environment Agency, although of the 140 residents targeted for the voice service, only 74 have registered.

Anyone who would like to register or for more information, contact the floodline number on 0845 988 1188 or email www.environment-agency.gov.uk